SirBalon

Collect all my rantings and gibberish over time mate... You publish it and I'll give you 10%. Like Del Boy used to say... "This time next year we'll be millionaires"

Thiago going was a fiasco and an example of how things can go wrong. He was more than ready and is presently one of the best central midfielders on the planet. Ask any Bayern fan what they think of him and with Bayern we're not talking about any mickey mouse football club... He dominated Arsenal in two legs by himself. Barça let his contract run down thinking he wouldn't leave because every La Masia player's dream is to play in the Blaugrana of Barça in the first team. They under estimated Thiago's ambition and he was right. Munir wasn't ready in my opinion and it has shown at Valencia. He is very talented but there seems to be some sort of mental block with him. But with Sandro we do have questions to ask and the fact he departed to Málaga and Barça spent a fortune on a club idol in Paco Alcácer shows how things can be done wrong. They're both the same type of player that live off instinct in the box. Sandro is now sort after by many of Europe's top clubs and he could've been blooded in slowly at Barcelona as he was prepared to be second string. In fairness, Alcácer's form rose dramatically in the second half of the season and every game he played toward the end he was detrimental to positive results. He is a class striker but has undersold himself by going to a club with three monsters up front where it's inevitable he will be a bench warmer. That sort of job should be for youth players who are raring to go and have been brought up on the club's milk. As for Denis Suárez... It's difficult in midfield at Barcelona because that has been forever the motor of the team and not the front players (definitely not the defence). He has had some marvellous performances this season and has also had some where he's been pretty silent. Something normal for a young player and I don't think the club are contemplating making the same error with him as they did with Thiago, although both are very different. Thiago Alcántara is a Xavi type player (almost a clone) and Denis is more in the mould of Iniesta but obviously there's only one Andrés Iniesta as he's unique. The Dani Alves saga is an interesting one... He felt undervalued by the club and in this detail both parties are right in their interpretation of the facts. Dani Alves went through almost three seasons of mediocrity by his extremely high standards and in the treble winning season when he was seriously being questioned by everyone, he raised his game and returned to his best form. That was one of his best campaigns for FC Barcelona and he was a monster! It's the reason the Barcelona faithful toward the end of the season were constantly chanting his name in every home game. When Barça presented the treble in the victory parade at the Camp Nou Alves burst into tears at the way the fans were leaning themselves toward him with passion and where he looked to be definitely leaving, he signed a new deal and remained at the club for one more season. But because Dani Alves knew he had been played by the club where they kept on letting his contracts run down so they had the upper hand on negotiations. That treble winning season was a coming to terms with himself and he knew he could still give an elite form performance throughout a season and he thought he would only sign a new contract with a clause that stated "if a big club comes in for me I will be able to leave for free". Said, thought and done... Juve came in for him and as much as it hurt his sentiments he has for FC Barcelona which he loves. He wanted to get the board back and he knew he would forever be a Barça legend for what he had provided over the years. He went for free and has had an unbelievable season this year and could win another Champions League. If I'm not wrong he is the player that won the most honours in history. It serves the board right and he never stops digging into them everytime he does interviews or on his social media accounts. At the same time he made a great comment on the "if Juve win the Champions League against Real he ill be offering it to the club of his life". On the Pedro stakes... Indeed a big error but look at the details behind it all. The previous season Barça sold a similar player to the Premier League (Alexis to Arsenal) and the following season Pedro went to another London club, Chelsea. Did Pedro force his way out? I doubt it! The fans absolutely loved him as he's a La Masia product and a great character which is why they preferred to see Alexis leave rather than Pedro the previous summer. Barcelona lost a massive outlet on moments where rotations were needed. I remember that season where Messi, Iniesta and Busquets were all injured and during the following 6 fixtures Pedro and Neymar ruled the roost in Spain... They were scoring 3, 4 and 5 a game. That was missing this season. Sergi Samper has been at Granada this season and even though they've had a terrible year, he has been the only plus. He has had injuries though... But he has been a revelation and there's no way Barcelona are going to sell him. Various Premier League clubs over the past two seasons have tried to coax him away (Arsenal being one of the main protagonists) and both Barça and the player have said no. He's one for the future if given the chance.

Hold on a moment... It seems I missunderstood you because I answered you in reference to promoting youth players which is what Barcelona's successful history is based on and that goes back much further than even Cruyff. That's never been down to the board, the president or anyone other than the first team coach. But it seems you were talking about the sale of players that should've stayed like Thiago Alcántara who was a youth product and his contract was left to run to zero. That indeed is the board's fault, this board! The present board Barcelona have is the most incompetent in the club's history, or at least in my living memory. It may not be the most controversial, but it knows very little about football. Actually I'm being harsh there... The president and three others know little about football but whatever it is, there have been serious errors made in that sense and in the recruitment area. The Dani Alves saga is absolutely hilarious and you can make a book in it itself.

They're not compulsory but every club seems to want to use them so as to protect themselves from a possible tapping situation especially with young players. But as is well known, they mostly end up working against the owning club unless they've done their work properly by renewing the contract annually as the player progresses. At big clubs they protect themselves even better by making big clauses and there's another issue in that it's not just the buy-out clause the purchasing club has to pay out. The moment you activate a buy-out clause, the buyer is responsible for the tax on that purchase and they have to pay the Spanish fiscal office themselves which at those prices stands at almost 50% and that's a lot of money especially on higher prices.

Yeah, the buy-out clauses especially at smaller clubs tend to be low and even more so on young players. That's an issue that agents take advantage off!

Quique Setién signs his first player for Real Betis. Sergio León moves from Osasuna to Seville for €3.5m which was his buy-out clause.

In general Barcelona doesn't run like Real Madrid has done under Florentino Pérez, that first of all. Secondly, apart from this generation of youngsters that are now being used at Real Madrid this season (many of them are actually purchases and not from their academy I might add. This is down to Zinedine Zidane and a lot of credit has to go to him for the way in which he's done it and has overridden the president... Now that I've spoken about Zidane. that is where I go to Barça. At Barcelona the board has no say whatsoever on the running of the team affairs and neither which players are used from the youth teams. That is all down to the head coach at Barça and he has total autonomy with everything in this respect. It's also very important the relationship the first team coach has with the head coaches at the youth teams including obviously Barcelona 'B'. There are players coming through and Barça continue to be the leading top club using own youth players. But it is true that for the past three years or so nothing spectacular has come through and they've also wasted the ones that have like Thiago Alcántara (at Bayern now) and Sandro Ramírez (at Málaga now and about to move to a big club if rumours are to be believed)... Although with Sandro it's unfortunately understandable with the trio that play for Barça where it's nigh on impossible to get a decent run of games to become more confident and get into the dynamics of it all. As for whether or not Barça will go through a serious dry period like Real Madrid did back then is unknown but I'd see it as something unusual.

He's being nice! But he is right in one thing... Once Messi took Moonface for a ride in the 14th minute and he got booked, the game changed. The just have to put someone talented on Moonface like Dybala and then we can all have a laugh seeing him try to chop him down.

I would say it's impossible to be as grumpy as Luis Enrique. Character wise Ernesto Valverde is a very calm man that speaks clearly but never gets coaxed into controversy which is something Luis Enrique didn't want either but his way of stopping the press from looking for a sensationalist headline was to be abrupt, rude and fight with them.

The presentation of Ernesto Valverde as FC Barcelona head coach in pictures

Just saw this picture on an article on a Spanish website (Mundo Deportivo) and I thought the picture was so good that I wanted to leave it here for you guys.

"The shirt that never sleeps" That's the publicity caption Barça have started off with their new kit and it's official release isn't even in Europe but in the US. Today In New York in their official FCB Store in Manhattan NY they've launched the shirt. Any European wanting to purchase it will have to do it on internet for the next 9 days before it's officially launched in the shops.

Iñigo Martínez, Valverde's first signing for Barça? According to a local San Sebastián newspaper very associated to everything La Real, 'Noticias de Gipuzkoa' (reflected by Mundo Deportivo), the new FC Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde could be about to exercise his first request to the technical directors, Robert Fernández and Ariedo Braida. That player is the centre-back at Real Sociedad, Iñigo Martínez. Ernesto Valverde wants to bolster the defence first and foremost and apparently that player is Iñigo Martínez who is the object of speculation as to his future every summer but in the end has always remained at La Real. The 26 year old has a contract with La Real until 2021 and his buy-out clause stands at €32m which is very good in today's prices (think what Liverpool want for Sakho) for a valuable centre-back like him. Obviously this is all speculation right now and in my personal opinion the reason he's been connected with Barça is because Valverde has tried to sign him on several occasions while coach of Athletic Bilbao. The problem is that a player moving from La Real to Athletic Club or vice-versa is a big no-no and has always been met by a brick wall. Iñigo Martínez gusta a Valverde

Could be although the Thiago error is massive! How much is he worth now? One of the best central midfielders in Europe right now.

Grimaldo is quality! Another one of the Barça errors... Why sign Luca Dinge when you have superior quality at home.

Villarreal will probably turn him into quality. Don't know too much about him though.

Yeah, I listened to his interview live on Spanish radio which is where he released that sad news. He said he doesn't expect to start the new season unfortunately and that these are the worst moments of his career. He's been a massive miss for us most of the season.

He needs to move on to better things. The way he was treated by Wenger reminds me a bit of the Podolski saga... What more could Lucas have done.

He's not going to be cheap. Atleti will demand the clause which also means the buying club has to go to the Spanish tax office themselves and deposit almost 50% of the transfer fee. This is going to be interesting like the final days of the Pogba deal.

Trust me when I tell you that where I sit we are only 6 fans and the rest is corporate. Mostly Asia (Japan).

That's the same argument I used mate. I can say he's shit even if I'm shit! I can say he's shit if he's earning as much as a top quality painter and decorator but doesn't provide the same quality. It's a criticism mate. You don't have to be better than someone to know when a person is providing value for money.

You lot let yourselves lose so as this could happen I know. True Blue practically admitted he wanted that outcome.

I rest my case! Are they going into deliberate now? I expect a unanimous decision and compensation for all the stupid money I've thrown away over the years.

Well he is now the greatest FA Cup winning manager of all time. That deserves some recompense... But in all honesty, his wage by comparison was a joke and he deserved something. But seriously though.... Let someone battle this one out. Where does his salary stand by comparison on other coaches/managers in the world of football and then compare what's on offer.